Stacking arrangement for book match making machine



Jan. 13, 1970 H. oswALD ETAL 3,488Q97 STACKNG RRANGIHVENT FOR BOOK MATCH MAKING MACHINE Filed 001'.. lO, 1967 United States Patent O 3,488,917 STACKING ARRANGEMENT FOR BOOK MATCH MAKING MACHINE Heinrich Oswald, Otterfing, and Stefan Eitl, Kotzting, Germany, assignors t Otto Czerweny von Arland, Munich, Germany Filed Oct. 10, 1967, Ser. No. 674,180 Int. Cl. B65b 5/10; B65g 57/03 U.S. Cl. 53--245 13 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The discharge end of a horizontal belt conveyor in an automatic book match making machine is trained over a reversing pulley which moves back and forth at belt speed to drop match books from the belt by gravity into a box in uniform layers. A platform carrying the box is lowered during each reciprocating pulley movement by one step equal to the thickness of one book layer and half the diameter of the pulley or greater. A spring stressed during lowering o-f the box raises the same when manually released from a brake.

Background of the invention This invention relates to automatic machinery for making match books, and particularly to a stacking ar rangement for stacking the partly assembled books before they are provided with outer covers.

Book matches are commonly made from continuous rolls of cardboard which are cut into comb-like structures. The transversely extending teeth of each comb are provided with ignitable heads while the structure travels on an -assembly conveyor. The books are transferred from the assembly conveyor by a stripper to a belt conveyor which carries them to a stacking station where they are carefully placed in transfer receptacles in uniform rows and layers.

The combs are later cut into short uniform pieces, two or more pieces are arranged in a cover in superimposed position, and the cover and matches are attached to each other by stapling or by means of adhesive. Much of the operation is fully automatized, but it has been necessary heretofore to use human operators for picking the combs from the belt carrier and placing them in the transfer receptacles in proper order. The object of the invention is a stacking yarrangement which automatically fills transfer receptacles with properly arranged match combs, and limits the role of an operator to the removing of full receptacles and the supplying of empty ones.

Summary of the invention The continuous carrier of the secondary conveyor which brings the match combs from the assembly carrier to the stacking station is guided in a closed loop by a mechanism which includes a reversing member, such as a pulley. A bight portion of the carrier is trained over a horizontally extending face of the reversing pulley, the pulley being mounted for reciprocating movement in a horizontally extending path transverse of the face thereof. The load-bearing upper chord portion of the carrier which is contiguously adjacent the bight portion extends from the same toward the stripper in the direction of the aforementioned path.

The reversing pulley and the carrier are actuated by a common drive which cyclically reciprocates the reversing pulley in its path and simultaneously moves the carrier in its loop so that the upper chord portion moves from the stripper toward the reversing pulley. This causes the eifective length of the upper chord portion to increase and decrease cyclically. The stacking station includes a Patented Jan. 13, 1970 l CCl support holding a receptacle in a position in which a portion of the same is Subjacent the path of the reversing pulley to receive match books dropped over the bight portion of the carrier.

Other features and many of the attendant 'advantages of this invention will readily be appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing.

Brief description of the drawing The sole figure of the drawing shows a portion of an automatic book match making machine equipped with the stacking arrangement of the invention in sideelevation.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring to the drawing in detail, there is seen only as much of an automatic match book making machine as is needed for an understanding of this invention, the machine being otherwise known.

The stationary frame 1 of the machine carries an assembly conveyor 4, only partly illustrated and conventional in itself, from which combs of book matches B are removed by a stripper 5 when the assembly conveyor 4 moves vertically downward.

The stacking mechanism with which this invention is more particularly concerned is driven by the continuously rotating drive shaft 3 of the machine which is connected to a pulley assembly 2 of the stacking mechanism by a belt. The assembly 2 includes a drive roller or pulley over which the carrier belt 6 of a stacking `conveyor is trained. The belt is guided in a closed loop by a small reversing pulley 17 mounted at the front end of a carriage 13 in such a manner that the upper chord of the belt 6 between the drive pulley and the reversing pulley is horizontal.

A lower chord of the belt extends from the bight portion of the belt at the reversing pulley 17 horizontally backward to a first guide pulley 18 on the carriage 13, thence to a guide andtensioning pulley 19 arranged on the frame 2 horizontally between the pulleys 17, 18 and vertically offset from the same in a downward direction, and then back to the drive pulley at 2. The pulley 19 is mounted on a weighted arm 20 for maintaining tension in the belt 6.

The carriage 13 is connected to the pulley assembly by a motion transmitting train which causes the carriage to reciprocate horizontally on the frame 1, wheels 14, 15 of the carriage engaging a guide slot 16 in the frame. The motion transmitting train includes a chain 7 trained over a sprocket in the pulley assembly 2 and one of two coaxially connected small sprockets 8. The other sprocket, not itself visible in the drawing, and an idler sprocket 10 further forward on the frame 1 in a horizontal direction are connected by the two strands of a continuous chain 9. A link 12 connects a pivot 11 on the chain 9 with 4a similar pivot on the carriage 13, whereby the carriage moves horizontally back and forth when the chain 9 is continuously driven by the pulley assembly 2. The dimensions of the aforedescrbed motion transmitting elements are selected in such a manner that the forward speed of the carriage 13 is substantially equal to the speed at which the upper chord of the belt 6 is moved. Match book combs B transferred to the belt 6 by the stripper 5 at the rear end of the upper chord of the belt thus do not drop over the bight portion of the belt at the reversing pulley 17 during forward movement of the upper belt chord.

The stacking station proper includes a support for a transfer box 21. The supporting structure mainly consists of a Stationary, tubular column 37 in which the upright stern 35 of a horizontal platform 35 is received in telescoping engagement. The platform 35 and the box 21 are moved down in steps during operation of the apparatus while the box 21 is being filled with book matches.

The positioning apparatus for moving the stem 35 includes a ratchet wheel 30 rotatably mounted on the frame 1 and integral with a sprocket 31 over which a chain 32 is trained. One end of the chain is attached to the stem 35 by a pin 36 which projects into an axial guide slot in the column 37 to prevent rotation of the platform 35 and to limit the vertical movement of the same. The other end of the chain 32 is attached to one arm of a lever 33 pivoted on the column 37. The other arm engages a heavy helical compression spring 34 so that the spring tensions the ch-ain 32 and tends to raise the platform 35.

The sprocket is indexed counter-clockwise, as viewed in the drawing, by a spring loaded pawl 29 mounted on an arm 28, one end of which is pivotally attached to the shaft of the ratchet wheel 30. The radially outer end of the arm 28 is hingedly and resiliently connected to one end of a long rod 27. The other end of the rod is pivotally attached to a rocker 26 on the frame 1. The free end of the rocker is in the path of the pivot 11 on the chain 9, and the rocker is held against an abutment 42 on the frame 1 by a spring 42 until it is briefly swung clockwise from the illustrated position by a rearwardly moving pivot 11.

When the rocker 26, the rod 27, and the arm 28 are in the illustrated inoperative position, the pawl 29 is held out of engagement with the ratchet wheel 30 by a xed abutment 41. When the arm 28 swings counter-clockwise during engagement of the pivot 11 with the rocker 26, the pawl 29 is engaged by its weak spring with the ratchet 30, and the latter is indexed counter-clockwise by one tooth spacing. The platform 35 with the transfer box 21 descends under its own weight. The vertical distance traveled by the box in each step is equal to the height of a layer of match book combs in the box 21 and at least equal to one-half of the diameter of the reversing pulley 17 which separates the upper and lower chord portions of the belt 6.

Clockwise movement of the ratchet wheel 30 under the tension of the spring 34 is prevented by `another pawl or stop 40 pivotally mounted on a brake drum 39 coaxial with the sprocket 31 and the ratchet wheel 30, but freely rotatable on the common shaft. A pawl spring, not seen in the drawing, permanently biases the stop 40 toward the ratchet teeth, and thereby maintains the tension of the spring 34 as long as the drum 39 is held stationary by a brake band 38. The band is normally held tightly to the drum 39 by an arm 43 pivoted to the column 37 in a manner not visible in the drawing, and biased by a strong spring 43. The free end of the arm 43 provides a handle which may be raised against the restraint of the spring 43' to release the brake, whereby the spring 34 is released to turn the ratchet wheel 30 and sprocket 31, :and the chain 32 raises the platform 35 until the pin 36 reaches the upper end of the slot in the column 37.

The transfer box 21 has a vertically movable wall 21' which normally closes the side of the box facing the stripper in the illustrated position, and is held in the closed position by a non-illustrated latch. When the latch is released, the wall 21 tends to move downward under its own weight and is held in a xed vertical position by a stationary pin 44 on the frame 1 which engages a corresponding notch in the wall 21. The wall 21 thus gradually closes the open side of the box 21 during downward movement of the platform 35', 'and the carrier belt 6 extends inward of the box 21 through the open side durilng most of the reciprocating movement of the carriage A Wiper blade 22 is pivotally mounted on the frame 1 above the belt 6 approximately at the point where the reversing pulley 17 is located when the carriage 13 is in its rearmost position. A lever 24 is pivotally attached on the frame 1 in such a manner that an abutment pin 23 on the carriage 13 strikes the lever when the carriage approaches its rearmost position. The resulting movement of the lever is transmitted by a link 25 to the blade 22, whereby the blade swings counter-clockwise from the illustrated position and wipes match books backward from the front end of the upper chord portion of the belt 6. The blade 22 is returned to the illustrated position by gravity acting on the lever 24 when the same is released by the abutment pin 23.

The stacking mechanism described `above operates as follows:

Match book combs are continuously transferred from the assembly conveyor 4 to the carrier belt 6 by the stripper 5, and move forward with the upper chord of the belt 6. The carriage 13 is moved backward from the illustrated position by the chain 9 so that the effective length of the upper belt chord is being reduced, and match books drop over the bight portion of the belt at twice the rate at which books are received by the belt from the assembly conveyor 4. Because of the mounting of the pulley 19 between the pulleys 18 and 2, the arm 20 moves little or not at all during the movement of the carriage 13.

As the carriage 13 approaches its rearmost position in which it reverses its direction of movement, the blade 22 moves yalong the belt 6 to sweep match books back from the bight portion of the belt, whereby books are prevented from 4being dropped into the box 21 during the subsequent forward movement of the upper belt chord in unison with the carriage 13. During each rearward stroke of the carriage 13, a layer of match book combs is deposited in the box 21. The combs are deposited on the belt 6 by the stripper 5 in uniformly spaced relationship, and they are equally uniformly arranged in the layers deposited in the box 21, the wiper blade 22 having but a minimal influence on the formation of the layers.

As the carriage 13 approaches its rearmost position, the pivot 11 strikes the rocker 26, and the ratchet wheel 30 and sprocket 31 are indexed counter-clockwise, thereby lowering the platform 35 by the height of one layer of books. The free fall of the books from the belt 6 can thus be limited to a very small height if the two horizontal chords of the carrier belt 6 are closely juxtaposed. It is necessary for this purpose to restrict the diameter of the reversing pulley 17 to a value not substantially greater than two steps in the descending motion of the box 21, and the angular spacing of the ratchet teeth and the diameter of the sprocket 31 are selected accordingly.

As the deposition of match book combs in uniform layers continues, the box 21 is lowered, and the rear side of the box is gradually closed by the wall 21. The work of an operator is limited to the removal of a full box 21, and the placing of an identical empty box on the platform 3S. The movable wall of the empty box engages the pin 44 when the platform is in its lowest position. When the operator thereafter releases the non-illustrated latch of the movable wall and depresses the operating arm 43, the box is raised to its highest position while the movable wall remains below the level of the lower horizontal chord of the belt 6. The belt enters the box through the open box side and the automatic lling operation can start. The time required by an experienced operator for replacing a full transfer box by an empty one is short enough so that it is unnecessary to stop the machine. The full box is transported to the next station in the manufacturing process in which theV combs are cut and the cut pieces are provided with covers in a known manner.

It will be appreciated that the reversing roller 17 may be replaced by a stationary rail having a semi-cylindrical or similar front face if the belt 6 is very flexible. Similar mechanical equivalents for other elements of the apparatus will readily suggest themselves to those skilled 'in the' art.

It should be understood, of course, that the present disclosure relates only to a preferred embodiment of the invention, and that it is intended to cover all changes and modications of the example chosen herein for the purpose of the disclosure which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for assembling matches having a first conveyor on which the matches are assembled, a second conveyor which moves the matches from the rst conveyor to a stacking station, and stripper means which transfers the matches from the first conveyor to the second conveyor, the improvement in the second conveyor and in the stacking station which comprises:

(a) a continuous carrier in said second conveyor;

(b) guide means for guiding said carrier in a closed loop,

(l) said guide means including a reversing member having a horizontally extending face and mounted vfor reciprocating movement in a horizontally extending path transverse of said face.

(2) said carrier having a bight portion trained over said reversing member and an upper chord portion contigously adjacent said bight portion and extending from the same in the direction of said path toward said stripper means;

(c) actuating means for cyclically reciprocating said reversing member in said path and for simultaneously moving said chord portion from said stripper means toward said reversing member, whereby the effective length of said upper chord portion increases and decreases; and

(d) supporting means at said station for supporting a receptacle in a position in which a portion of the receptacle is subjacent said path.

2. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 1, said actuating means including means for moving said reversing member in said path thereof at the same speed at which said upper chord portion is being moved by said actuating means.

3. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 1, a receptacle in said supporting means, said receptacle having a bottom wall and a plurality of side walls upwardly extending from said bottom wall, one side wall being movable in an upright direction to open and close a side of the receptacle, said path extending inward of the receptacle when the side is opened.

4. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 1, said actuating means including a rotatable drive pulley, said carrier being trained over said drive pulley, and motion transmitting means interposed between said drive pulley and said reversing member for reciprocating the reversing member in said path in response to continuous rotation of said drive pulley.

5. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 4, said motion transmitting means including an elongated, continuous motion transmitting member, means for moving said member in a loop having two strands extending in the direction of said path and moving in opposite directions, and a linkage connecting a portion of said motion transmitting member to said reversing member.

6. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 1, said actuating means including a carriage movable in said path and carrying said reversing mem-ber, said guide means including a irst guide pulley mounted on said carriage and offset from said reversing member in the direction of said path toward said stripper means, and a second guide pulley secured against movement with said carriage, said carrier being sequentially trained over said reversing member, said first guide pulley, and said second guide pulley1 7. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 1, positioning means operatively connected to said actuating means and said supporting means for moving said supporting means away from said path in timed sequence with the reciprocating movement of said reversing member.

8. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 7, energy storage means responsive to the moving of said supporting means by said positioning means for storing energy, receptacle return means connected to said storage means and said supporting means for moving the latter toward said path under the energy of said storage means, and releasing means operable for releasing said energy from said storage means to said return means.

9. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 8, said positioning means including a rotatable ratchet member, connecting means responsive to angular indexing movement of said ratchet member in one direction for moving said supporting means away from said path and for storing energy in said storage means, a pawl member engageable with said ratchet member for angularly moving the same in said one direction, and linkage means connecting said pawl member to said actuating means for engaging the pawl member with the ratchet member, and for thereby indexing the ratchet member once during each reciproeating movement of the reversing pulley.

10. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 9, abutment means holding said pawl member out of engagement with said ratchet member during a portion of each reciprocating movement of said reversing member, and stop means normally preventing angular movement of the ratchet member in a direction opposite to said one direction, said stop means including a drum member coaxially rotatable with said ratchet member, brake means engageable with said drum member for preventing rotation 0f the same, a stop member mounted on said drum member and normally engaging said ratchet member, said releasing means being eifective to release said brake means, and said connecting means responding to the stored energy of said storage means for rotating said ratchet member in said opposite direction and for moving said supporting means toward said path.

11. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 7, said positioning means including means for moving said supporting means away from said path a predetermined distance during each reciprocating movement of said reversing member, said carrier having a lower chord portion contiguously adjacent said bight portion and vertically separated by said bight portion from said upper chord portion, the vertical spacing of said chord portions at said bight portion being not substantially greater than twice said predetermined distance.

12. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 1, retaining means for preventing assembled matches carried by said upper chord from dropping over said bight portion into said receptacle when the reversing member is nearest said stripper means, said retaining means including a retaining member movable along said upper chord, and motion transmitting means interposed between said reversing member and said retaining member for moving the retaining member toward said stripper means when the reversing member approaches the portion of the path thereof nearest said stripper means.

13. In an apparatus a set forth in claim 7, said positioning means including means responsive to the movement of said reversing member for moving said supporting means away from said path by a predetermined step when said reversing means is in a portion of said path farthest removed from said supporting means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,269,115 4/ 1917 Reese. 3,106,280 10/ 1963 Baker 198-30 3,281,146 10/ 1966 Bridge.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner R. L. SPURILL, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

